Cloud9, NAVI, more through to EU RMRs; Aurora, SINNERS among teams eliminated

Four teams have punched their tickets to Bucharest with a perfect 3-0 record in the closed qualifiers.

Cloud9 were far too strong for BetBoom

Day two of the closed qualifiers for the European RMRs has come to an end, with four teams securing berths in Bucharest. Meanwhile, only 24 teams remain in contention after the first elimination round.

Cloud9 were the first team to seal qualification for the RMRs following a quick 2-0 victory over Russian rival BetBoom. Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov’s troops dropped only eight rounds throughout the match, with four players posting 1.50+ series ratings.

Natus Vincere also required only two maps to beat Virtus.pro, but it was from an easy afternoon for the international team, who had to come back from 1-9 and 1-8 deficits on Overpass and Anubis and won both maps in overtime. After the match, Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen said that it was “one of the most intense” CS2 matches he has played, even though it was an online affair, with Mihai "⁠iM⁠" Ivan backing that sentiment.

The other two advancement series ended in upsets. A stellar performance from Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer (1.37 rating and +28 K-D) was not enough as Astralis fell to AMKAL, the Russian team that features the ex-1win core. And world No.3 MOUZ, the highest-ranked team in the qualifiers, were defeated by Eternal Fire (No.14) in a close three-map affair.

On the lower end of the Swiss stage, all four elimination series were settled after two maps. Aurora were the first top 30 team to crash out of the qualifiers following a defeat to FORZE in a Russian derby, but more surprising still was SINNERS' elimination against Nexus, who are ranked only 181st in the world.

Swedish side EYEBALLERS also lost to a lower-ranked opponent in Entropiq, prompting an apology tweet from veteran Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell, while Permitta was the only team that did not suffer an upset, dispatching JANO in quick fashion.

The team list for the European RMRs currently looks as follows:

Vitality
Apeks
Monte
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Guild Eagles
ENCE
Natus Vincere
Eternal Fire

GamerLegion
FaZe
Into the Breach
Falcons
G2
Cloud9
AMKAL

The full schedule for day three is as follows:

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Europe RMR Closed Qualifier A
20/01/2024	ECSTATIC 13:00 Permitta	Match
20/01/2024	BIG 13:00 Nexus	Match
20/01/2024	3DMAX 13:00 Zero Tenacity	Match
20/01/2024	Virtus.pro 16:00 fnatic	Match
20/01/2024	BetBoom 16:00 OG	Match
20/01/2024	9 Pandas 16:00 SAW	Match
20/01/2024	9 Pandas 19:05 3DMAX	Match
20/01/2024	OG 19:05 Nexus	Match
20/01/2024	ECSTATIC 19:05 fnatic	Match

Date	Matches
PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Europe RMR Closed Qualifier B
20/01/2024	sYnck 13:00 Entropiq	Match
20/01/2024	IKLA 13:00 HEROIC	Match
20/01/2024	Preasy 13:00 FORZE	Match
20/01/2024	Astralis 16:00 PERA	Match
20/01/2024	KOI 16:00 ex-ThunderFlash	Match
20/01/2024	MOUZ 16:00 Spirit	Match
20/01/2024	KOI 20:10 PERA	Match
20/01/2024	MOUZ 20:10 Preasy	Match
20/01/2024	sYnck 20:10 HEROIC	Match